High-Tech on the High Seas

Sound the (Very Loud) Alarm

Many ships are now starting to use MADs and long-range audio devices (LRADs), which can deliver loud and clear sounds to great distances across the water.

Vahan Simidian II, CEO of the Costa Mesa, Calif.-based HPV Technologies LLC and the developer of the technology, said the sound is emitted in focused parallel beams, much like a laser beam of light. As long as you are within a line of site, you can receive a clear, loud sound up to a mile and a tenth away.

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His device, based on planar magnetic technology, can be used to hail and communicate with oncoming attackers. It can also be used to emit an unbearably loud noise that can help disorient and delay hijackers.

"I can make your ears ring so bad you can hardly think," he said, adding that though the sound will not knock someone off his feet, it will definitely push him back.

"It could severely hurt your hearing if it was prolonged, depending on how close you get and how long [you're exposed to it]," Simidian said.

In the past year, sales of his devices -- which come in various sizes and could cost up to $18,000 to $20,000 for a ship-appropriate unit -- have grown significantly. In the past year, business has increased by a factor of 12 and he expects it to grow again by tenfold in the next year.

While it's true that simple earplugs could prevent an attacker from experiencing the pain induced by MADs and LRADs, experts say all nonlethal weapons have a countermeasure.

"You can counter pretty much anything you want to," said Jon Becker, president of Aardvark Tactical Inc., an Azusa, Calif.-based firm that provides military and law enforcement units with nonlethal weapons. "The trick is the average Somali pirate is not going to be familiar with them. The goal is to get them to disengage and look for a softer target."

Becker also emphasized that defense systems need to be layered and address the different stages of a pirate's attack: warning pirates as they approach, preventing them from boarding the ship and then dealing with them once the have embarked.

"What you're going to find is none of these individual technologies will solve the piracy thing," he told ABCNews.com.